The US-American LeBron James (6) celebrates a basket against Serbia in the men’s semifinal … (+)
During Thursday’s semifinal against Serbia, it looked for a long time as if the US national team would not compete in the gold medal game in Olympic men’s basketball for the first time in 20 years. After three quarters, the Americans were 13 points behind, and with five minutes to go they were seven points behind.
From there, the U.S. took the lead, with future Hall of Famers LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid making key plays that led to a 95-91 win and a game on Saturday against France.
Team USA should win based on talent alone. The roster is loaded with All-NBA players. France, on the other hand, has four players who currently play in the NBA: Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs), Nicolas Batum (Los Angeles Clippers), Bilal Coulibaly (Washington Wizards) and Rudy Gobert (Minnesota Timberwolves). Gobert is the only one to make an All-Star team, although the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama was selected No. 1 in last year’s draft and is considered a transcendent star.
Still, anything can happen in a game. The French beat Canada 82-73 in the quarterfinals and Germany 73-69 in the semifinals. And they will be playing in front of their home crowd. In addition, at the Olympics three years ago, France beat the USA in the group stage before the USA came back to win the gold medal game by five points over France.
Granted, the rosters are different than in 2021, but Team USA has shown that it is vulnerable to an upset if it does not play to its full potential.
Below we look at the three times (1948, 2000 and 2021) when the USA team faced France in the gold medal game.
1948 – Team USA wins 65-21 in London
At the time, the United States was by far the dominant country in men’s basketball, and the gold medal game was no exception, as the U.S. team beat France by 44 points to cap an impressive run.
In those Olympics, the Americans went 8-0, winning the eight games by an average margin of 33.5 points. The U.S. had a scare in the second game, beating Argentina by two points, but won the rest of the games by at least 25 points.
The U.S. squad included Kentucky’s Alex Groza (11.1 points per game), former Oklahoma State star Bob Kurland (9.3 points per game) and former UCLA player Don Barksdale (7.7 points per game), both of whom were eligible because they did not play professional basketball after graduating from college.
This was only the second time that men’s basketball was included in the Olympics. The United States won the first gold medal in 1936 by defeating Canada in the final.
2000 – Team USA wins 85-75 in Sydney, Australia
Because the 1992 Olympics were the first time the U.S. team had NBA players on its team, it was assumed that the Americans would have little competition. That was the case in 1992 and 1996, when the U.S. won all of its games by at least 20 points.
Still, it was much closer in 2000. In the semifinals, the US team escaped with an 85-83 victory after Lithuanian Sarunas Jasikevicius missed a 3-pointer as the final siren sounded.
Two days later, the USA faced France, which was in the final for the first time since 1948. Thanks to an even point distribution, the Americans won gold, defeating France by 10 points.
Vince Carter and Ray Allen each scored 13 points, while Vin Baker added 11 and Alonzo Mourning added nine. Laurent Sciarra, a longtime pro in Europe who never played in the NBA, led France with 19 points, while Stephane Risacher scored 15. Risacher’s son, Zaccharie, was the first pick in the NBA draft in June.
The most lasting highlight of the 2000 Olympics came in a group game when Carter dunked over 7-foot-10 center Frederic Weis of France, the New York Knicks’ first-round pick in the 1999 NBA draft. Weis, however, never played an NBA game.
2021 – Team USA wins 87-82 in Tokyo
Although the U.S. had won the last three Olympics after a loss to Argentina in 2004, Team USA was no longer as much of a favorite as it had been before. At the 2019 FIBA World Cup, France defeated the U.S. 89-79 in the quarterfinals. Team USA then lost to Serbia and finished in seventh place – its worst finish at a World Cup.
Two years later, the Olympics did not start well either. France defeated the United States 83-76 in the opening game. However, the United States team recovered and won the next four games, including a semifinal victory over Australia 97-78, setting up a rematch against France in the gold medal game.
The teams were close throughout, with the Americans leading by single digits for most of the game. France was able to pull within 85-82 with 10 seconds left, but Kevin Durant sealed the victory with two free throws, giving him 29 points, the most on his team and his third gold medal. Jayson Tatum came off the bench to score 19 points, while starters Jrue Holliday and Damon Lilliard each scored 11 points.
Durant, Tatum, Holliday, Bam Adebayo and Devin Booker are the players from the 2021 team who are returning this year. They will look to defeat France again on Saturday and add another gold medal to their collection.
